Cave Consulting Group conducted an analysis finding primary care physicians can take on a larger role in managing the total cost of care for an accountable care population.
Here are five key notes:
1. The analysis found PCPs are involved in treating 57 percent of all prevalent medical condition episodes of care.
2. Comparatively, patients are self-referring to specialties nearly 43 percent of the time.
3. PCPs are involved in treating 40 percent of the patient episodes of care for medical conditions with significant practice variations. Medical conditions with significant practice variations include low back pain, degenerative joint disease, headaches, derangement of knee, hernias and ischemic heart disease.
4. Of the 40 percent of patient episodes that PCPs encounter with significant practice variations, PCPs referred 35 percent of these cases to specialists.
5. Of this 35 percent, the analysis found only 50 percent of the observed specialists were practicing efficiently and effectively. This finding indicates that "PCPs may refer to specialists based on criteria other than efficiency and effectiveness."
More articles on practice management:
AMA has 3 new resources to help physician practices with MACRA
UChicago Medicine, Ingalls merge to serve South Side and Southland: 7 things to know
Stemming the opioid crisis: Dr. V.K. Puppala of Alliance Spine and Pain Centers weighs in